Only Mississippi abortion clinic gets license reprieve

JACKSON — A federal judge has temporarily blocked Mississippi from revoking the license of the state’s only abortion clinic.

U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III on Monday extended an injunction he issued several months ago, which blocks the state from closing the clinic as it tries to fulfill a 2012 state law.

The law requires all OB-GYNs who do abortions at the clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Jordan’s ruling comes three days before the state Department of Health was scheduled to hold a license revocation hearing for the clinic over its self-acknowledged inability to get the admitting privileges.

Jordan’s ruling says the state cannot close the clinic while it still has a federal lawsuit pending to challenge the 2012 law.